Malware

I still remember when I was taking up my Master's degree, my professor told us that anti-virus software or even computer viruses must be called as Malware or Anti-Malware. In which I do agree, for a virus is a type of a malware. A malware or short for malicious software is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. A malware comes in different type like viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware, rootkits and many other nasty infections. And so if you have found a virus(as you call) on your computer, you start calling it “malware”, and Yes! You definitely need an anti-malware for that.

Here are some list of free anti-malwares that you may use:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition

AVG Free provides you with basic antivirus and antispyware protection for Windows and is available to download for free.

Here are some of the features of this anti-malware

Surf, and search with confidence, while LinkScanner® keeps you safe from harmful sites

Get online and offline protection from viruses, spyware, and other nasties

avast! Free Antivirus

avast! Free Antivirus is perfect for people who send e-mails and surf popular websites. But if you store sensitive data on your computer, shop or bank on-line, we recommend the comprehensive protection in avast! Internet Security.

FREE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE - NO LICENSE FEES EVER

BitDefender Free Edition

BitDefender Free Edition is your chance to use one of the world's most effective antivirus engines for free!

BitDefender Free Edition uses the same ICSA Labs certified scanning engines found in other BitDefender products, allowing you to enjoy basic virus protection for no cost at all.

BitDefender Free Edition is an on-demand virus scanner, which is best used in a system recovery or forensics role. If you are on an "always-on" Internet connection, we strongly advise you to consider using a more complex antivirus solution.

Features and Benefits:

Virus scanning and removal
On demand scanning - Powerful scan engines ensure detection and removal of all viruses in the wild every time you need it.

Scheduled scanning
The Scheduler lets you plan ahead, and schedule full system/drive scans in the off hours, when you won’t be using your computer.

Immediate scanning
With just a right click you can check your files and folders.

Quarantine
By isolating the infected files in quarantine, the risk of getting infected diminishes. You also have the possibility to send these files for further analysis to BitDefender Labs.

Reports
When launching a scan you may choose to create a report file where you can see statistics about the scan process.